The following streetcar lines once operated in Queens, New York City, United States.
BMT
editThe Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation concentrated on Brooklyn, but had some lines into Queens.[1] Only the ones that significantly entered Queens are shown here; see list of streetcar lines in Brooklyn for the others (mainly into Ridgewood).
Name | From | To | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Metropolitan Avenue Line | Brooklyn | Jamaica | Metropolitan Avenue | built by the Broadway Ferry and Metropolitan Avenue Railroad? abandoned June 12, 1949 now the Q54 bus |
Richmond Hill Line | Brooklyn | Jamaica | Myrtle Avenue | abandoned April 26, 1950 now the Q55 bus |
Jamaica Line | Brooklyn | Jamaica | Jamaica Avenue | opened by the East New York and Jamaica Railroad on May 7, 1863 abandoned November 30, 1947 now the Q56 bus |
Flushing Avenue Line | Brooklyn | Maspeth | Flushing Avenue | abandoned November 21, 1948 now the B57 bus |
Flushing–Ridgewood Line | Ridgewood | Flushing | Fresh Pond Road, Grand Avenue, and Corona Avenue | abandoned July 17, 1949[2] now the Q58 bus[2] |
Grand Street Line | Brooklyn | Elmhurst | Grand Avenue | built by the Grand Street and Newtown Railroad in 1876 abandoned December 11, 1949 now the Q59 bus |
North Beach Line | Corona | North Beach | Junction Boulevard | abandoned August 25, 1949 now the Q72 bus |
Cypress Hills Cemetery Line | Ridgewood | Cypress Hills Cemetery | Cypress Avenue | opened by the Bushwick Railroad on May 26, 1878 abandoned September 1, 1947 |
Long Island Electric
editThe Long Island Electric Railway operated lines in eastern Queens until 1926. These lines were later operated by Jamaica Central Railways, until the company reorganized as Jamaica Buses, with bus service replacing trolley service in 1933.[3][4]
Name | From | To | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jamaica | Nassau County towards Hempstead (became NY&LI at the city line) | Jamaica Avenue and Hempstead Avenue | abandoned November 25, 1933 now the Q110 bus[3] | |
Liberty Avenue Line | Brooklyn | Jamaica | Liberty Avenue and South Road | abandoned 1933 now the Q112 bus[3] |
Jamaica−Far Rockaway line[5] | Jamaica | Far Rockaway | Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, Rockaway Boulevard, Mott Avenue, Wanser Avenue, and the Long Island Rail Road's Far Rockaway Branch | abandoned December 2, 1933 now the Q113 and Q114 buses.[3][6] |
Manhattan and Queens Traction
editThe Manhattan and Queens Traction Company was originally part of the South Shore Traction Company based in Sayville, New York, which planned to build lines throughout Central and Western Suffolk, as well as Nassau and Queens County, before selling off its only lines to the Suffolk Traction Company, and moving to New York City. Before reorganizing itself as M&QT, it operated a line across the Queensboro Bridge from Manhattan to Long Island City until April 1937.
Name | From | To | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Queens Boulevard Line | Manhattan | South Jamaica | Queens Boulevard and Sutphin Boulevard | abandoned April 17, 1937 now the Q60 bus |
Van Dam Industrial Spur | Long Island City | Long Island City | Van Dam Street | abandoned |
New York and Long Island Traction
editThe New York and Long Island Traction Company operated east to Freeport, Hempstead, and Mineola in Nassau County.
Name | From | To | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mineola Line | Queens Village | Nassau County towards Mineola | Jamaica Avenue | abandoned April 3, 1926 now the n24 bus |
Jamaica-Hempstead Line | Jamaica (Long Island Electric Railway terminates at the Queens-Nassau Line) | Hempstead | 160th Street Jamaica to Belmont Park on 160th Street, Jamaica Avenue, and Hempstead Avenue (Turnpike) | Joint NY&LI - LIER service. abandoned April 3, 1926 now the n6 bus |
Brooklyn-Freeport Line | Brooklyn | Nassau County towards Freeport | Rockaway Boulevard, North Conduit Avenue, and Sunrise Highway | abandoned April 3, 1926; parts of line replaced by Q7, Q85, n4 buses |
New York and Queens County
editThe New York and Queens County Railway operated in northern Queens. In 1932 it was reorganized as the New York and Queens Transit Corporation, and ended trolley service as it evolved into the Queens-Nassau Transit Lines in 1937.
Name | From | To | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Flushing–Jamaica Line | Jamaica | Flushing | 164th Street, 45th Avenue, and Bowne Street | abandoned 1937 now part of the Q65 bus |
College Point Line | Flushing | College Point | College Point Boulevard | abandoned 1937 now part of the Q65 bus |
Corona Line | Woodside | Flushing | 37th Avenue, 61st Street, Woodside Avenue, Broadway, 43rd Avenue, and private right-of-way | abandoned August 3, 1925 |
Cemetery Route | Hunters Point | Middle Village | Borden Avenue and 69th Street | abandoned 1937 now the Q67 bus |
Steinway Lines [1922-1939]
editThe Steinway Railway operated in northwestern Queens. In the fall of 1939, the company was renamed as Steinway Omnibus and began operating bus lines over former trolley lines and in 1959 changed their name again to Steinway Transit.
Name | From | To | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Steinway Street Line | Midtown Manhattan 59th Street & 2nd Avenue |
Steinway | Jackson Avenue, Northern Boulevard, Steinway Street, and 19th Avenue | abandoned 11/01/1939 now the Q101 bus |
31st Street Line | Long Island City or Midtown Manhattan 59th Street & 2nd Avenue |
Astoria Ferry | Jackson Avenue, 31st Street, Newtown Avenue, and Astoria Boulevard | abandoned 09/29/1939 now the Q102 bus |
Vernon Boulevard Line | Hunters Point | Astoria Ferry | Vernon Boulevard | abandoned 09/29/1939 now the Q103 bus |
Broadway Line | Astoria Ferry | Woodside | Broadway | abandoned 09/29/1939 now the Q104 bus |
Flushing Avenue Line | Astoria | Bowery Bay | Astoria Boulevard | abandoned 12/06/1935 now the Q19 Bus |
Jackson Avenue Line | Long Island City | Woodside | Jackson Avenue, Northern Blvd | abandoned 09/29/1939 replaced partially by B62, Q100 buses |
Ocean Electric
editThe Ocean Electric Railway operated on The Rockaways.
Name | From | To | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hammels | Neponsit | Rockaway Beach Boulevard from Beach 75th Street to Beach 116th Street, north to Newport Avenue, west to Beach 142nd Street to Neponsit Avenue to west of Beach 149th Street. | Built from 1904-1916; abandoned October 25, 1928 now Q22 and Q35 | |
Hammels | Hammels Beach | Hammels Wye; South Leg along Beach 84th Street (formerly Fairview Avenue). | abandoned | |
Far Rockaway | Hammels | Long Island Rail Road on the original LIRR tracks shared with LIRR trains Far Rockaway Branch then down Beach 84th Street to join the Rockaway Beach Boulevard line. | abandoned September 9, 1926 now New York City Subway's IND Rockaway Line | |
Far Rockaway | Roche's Beach | Long Island Rail Road original Far Rockaway station at Mott Avenue, south on Central Avenue (now Beach 20th Street to New Haven and Brookhaven Avenue, then south on Rockaway Turnpike (now Beach 19th Street) to Roche's Beach, just south of today's Seagirt Boulevard | abandoned September 14, 1924 |
New York and North Shore Traction
editThe New York and North Shore Traction Company operated from northeastern Queens east into Nassau County. By 1920, the company converted itself into the North Shore Bus Company.
Name | From | To | Route | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
North Shore Line | Flushing | Nassau County towards Roslyn and Hicksville LIRR Station | 35th Avenue, 39th Avenue, and Northern Boulevard | abandoned 1920 replaced by Q12, n20(G/H) buses |
Whitestone Line | Flushing | Whitestone | 35th Avenue, 149th Street, and 150th Street | abandoned 1920 operated as the Q14 bus until 2010, replaced with similar Q15A |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ BMT Surface Division map, undated
- ^ a b "Buses to Replace Crosstown Trolley". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 14, 1949. Retrieved 30 September 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d "Pick Tentative Bus Operators; Queens Objects: Board Selects North Shore and Jamaica Firms-Hearing July 10". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 19, 1931. p. 2. Retrieved 12 October 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Harvey Hopes To Halt Dual Bus Contracts: To Insist All Applications Be Advertised Along With the Favored Ones". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. April 21, 1932. p. 27. Retrieved 12 October 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Seyfried, Vincent F. (1950). "Full text of "New York and Queens County Railway and the Steinway Lines, 1867-1939."". archive.org. Vincent F. Seyfried. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- ^ Soto, Juan (August 29, 2014). "New Q114 bus line ready for first riders". Times Ledger. Retrieved 12 October 2015.
- Williams Map and Guide Company, Map of the borough of Queens, 1923
- Chicago Transit & Railfan Web Site: New York City Transit
- The New York and Queens County Railway AND The Steinway Lines 1867-1939, Vincent F. Seyfried, 1950
- The Don Harold and Francis J. Goldsmith, Jr. Brooklyn El and Trolley Pages (The JoeKorNer: Brooklyn Trolleys)
- "PRR Chronology, Discontinuance/Last Runs of Passenger Service" (PDF). (40.6 KiB), Edition of June 30, 2003
- Lost Trolleys of Queens and Long Island by Stephen L. Meyers (2006).